Identix lands State Department visa biometrics deal

With more than 45 million facial images, the State Department likely operates the world's largest facial-recognition identity management program. And its work in that area will continue with the help of Identix Inc.

The Minnetonka, Minn., company received orders worth about $4 million to supply and integrate additional biometric search engines into department's recently launched visa processing programs.

The orders, which include the exercise of the first option year of Indentix's initial contract, are part of the State Department's mandate to augment its automated fraud-detection assistance capabilities through the use of facial recognition to screen for duplicates, aliases and for faces on a watch list before issuing a visa.

The department selected Identix in September 2004 as the sole recipient of its Facial Recognition System and Integration Support contract.

In the first six months of the original contract, Identix deployed three operational systems in support of the Visa Office, including a system with more than 40 million enrolled images and the e-Diversity Visa system.

Within the first few weeks of operation of the e-Diversity Visa system, Identix's technology was credited with helping to identify more than 5,000 individuals attempting to enter the U.S. under fraudulent conditions, company officials said.